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Goodell's ever-changing allegiances

Michael GormanEditorial page editor

Published: Friday, November 23, 2012 at 9:47 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, November 23, 2012 at 9:47 a.m.

“There's no vert like a convert.” While I was working my way through college, I temporarily gave up smoking. Proud of my accomplishment (which was, I repeat, temporary), I took to lecturing coworkers about the shortcomings they exhibited by smoking.

One of my coworkers noticed my terrible hypocrisy and said, under his breath, “There's no vert like a convert.” Oh. I've become one of those, I realized.

The message was clear. No one is more zealous in a belief than a person who has recently found it.

His words had their intended effect. I canned it about smoking. I also, shortly thereafter, started smoking again, just to underline and put in bold the word “hypocrite” that should have been tattooed on my forehead.

I tell you that rambling story to try to make some sense of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's newfound concern about players getting concussions.

Apparently, this is now something that bothers Goodell, a fact that might surprise those who watched the NFL for years deny that there was any connection between repeated concussions and long-term brain injury.

Goodell now is a convert, though, and as my coworker might have warned us, he has taken up with great fervor the cause of preventing concussions.

The NFL earlier this week suspended Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed for making too many hits.

What? That's right, the NFL has started punishing defensive players — to the tune of one game and more than $400,000 — for hitting “defenseless” receivers.

What a bunch of garbage.

The NFL had to relent on Tuesday when Reed's appeal was upheld, the suspension was lifted and his fine was reduced to $50,000. But Goodell's horrible doublespeak on this issue remains troubling.

The NFL's suspension, which had not yet been overturned, was on my mind as I got ready to watch “Monday Night Football,” a much-anticipated matchup between the 49ers and the Bears, two of the more highly regarded defenses in the NFL.

The leadup to the game featured Dick Butkus, a Hall of Fame former Bears great, and Ronnie Lott, a Hall of Fame former 49er. Both were feared defenders in their day, known for hard hits and vicious play.

Their ferocity made them great and led them to the Hall of Fame.

A highlight reel of the two before Monday night's game featured hit after hit of two great careers.

Every one of those hits would have resulted in a penalty today. The league, with its legion of lawyers tending to Goodell's ever-shifting allegiances to denial or player safety, has legislated defense out of the game defense helped make great.

So we end up with the Ed Reeds of the world being suspended for doing their jobs. We also end up with the Bountygate scandal that has rocked the New Orleans Saints.

Goodell's new desire to limit injuries to some players (he still hasn't taken any action to outlaw the chop blocks that end so many defenders' careers) fueled a witch hunt against the Saints. The whole Bountygate affair has been bogged down in hypocrisy, lies and half-truths, so it is difficult to even start picking it apart.

But here is the way former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, one of the targets of Goodell's bounty probe, put it in a letter to the commissioner:

“For me, the issue of player health (and) safety is personal. For the league and the Commissioner, it's about perception (and) liability. The Commissioner says he is disappointed in me. The truth is, I'm disappointed in him. His positions on player health and safety since a 2009 congressional hearing on concussions have been inconsistent at best. He failed to acknowledge a link between concussions (and) post-career brain disease, pushed for an 18-game regular season, committed to a full season of Thursday night games, has continually challenged players' rights to file workers' compensation claims for on-the-job injuries, and he employed incompetent replacement officials for the start of the 2012 season. His actions or lack thereof are by the league's own definition, ‘conduct detrimental.' My track record on the issue of player health (and) safety speaks for itself. And clearly, as I just listed, the Commissioner's does, too.”

In other words, there's no vert like a convert.

Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.

<p>“There's no vert like a convert.” While I was working my way through college, I temporarily gave up smoking. Proud of my accomplishment (which was, I repeat, temporary), I took to lecturing coworkers about the shortcomings they exhibited by smoking.</p><p>One of my coworkers noticed my terrible hypocrisy and said, under his breath, “There's no vert like a convert.” Oh. I've become one of those, I realized.</p><p>The message was clear. No one is more zealous in a belief than a person who has recently found it.</p><p>His words had their intended effect. I canned it about smoking. I also, shortly thereafter, started smoking again, just to underline and put in bold the word “hypocrite” that should have been tattooed on my forehead.</p><p>I tell you that rambling story to try to make some sense of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's newfound concern about players getting concussions.</p><p>Apparently, this is now something that bothers Goodell, a fact that might surprise those who watched the NFL for years deny that there was any connection between repeated concussions and long-term brain injury.</p><p>Goodell now is a convert, though, and as my coworker might have warned us, he has taken up with great fervor the cause of preventing concussions.</p><p>The NFL earlier this week suspended Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed for making too many hits.</p><p>What? That's right, the NFL has started punishing defensive players — to the tune of one game and more than $400,000 — for hitting “defenseless” receivers.</p><p>What a bunch of garbage.</p><p>The NFL had to relent on Tuesday when Reed's appeal was upheld, the suspension was lifted and his fine was reduced to $50,000. But Goodell's horrible doublespeak on this issue remains troubling.</p><p>The NFL's suspension, which had not yet been overturned, was on my mind as I got ready to watch “Monday Night Football,” a much-anticipated matchup between the 49ers and the Bears, two of the more highly regarded defenses in the NFL.</p><p>The leadup to the game featured Dick Butkus, a Hall of Fame former Bears great, and Ronnie Lott, a Hall of Fame former 49er. Both were feared defenders in their day, known for hard hits and vicious play.</p><p>Their ferocity made them great and led them to the Hall of Fame.</p><p>A highlight reel of the two before Monday night's game featured hit after hit of two great careers.</p><p>Every one of those hits would have resulted in a penalty today. The league, with its legion of lawyers tending to Goodell's ever-shifting allegiances to denial or player safety, has legislated defense out of the game defense helped make great.</p><p>So we end up with the Ed Reeds of the world being suspended for doing their jobs. We also end up with the Bountygate scandal that has rocked the New Orleans Saints.</p><p>Goodell's new desire to limit injuries to some players (he still hasn't taken any action to outlaw the chop blocks that end so many defenders' careers) fueled a witch hunt against the Saints. The whole Bountygate affair has been bogged down in hypocrisy, lies and half-truths, so it is difficult to even start picking it apart.</p><p>But here is the way former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, one of the targets of Goodell's bounty probe, put it in a letter to the commissioner:</p><p>“For me, the issue of player health (and) safety is personal. For the league and the Commissioner, it's about perception (and) liability. The Commissioner says he is disappointed in me. The truth is, I'm disappointed in him. His positions on player health and safety since a 2009 congressional hearing on concussions have been inconsistent at best. He failed to acknowledge a link between concussions (and) post-career brain disease, pushed for an 18-game regular season, committed to a full season of Thursday night games, has continually challenged players' rights to file workers' compensation claims for on-the-job injuries, and he employed incompetent replacement officials for the start of the 2012 season. His actions or lack thereof are by the league's own definition, 'conduct detrimental.' My track record on the issue of player health (and) safety speaks for itself. And clearly, as I just listed, the Commissioner's does, too.”</p><p>In other words, there's no vert like a convert.</p><p>Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.</p>